HAMMOND | Contrite excuses from BP refinery executives for building a construction command center without city permission failed Tuesday to move Hammond officials responsible for development.
The Hammond Redevelopment Commission postponed any retroactive approval of the office complex until at least next month.
BP North America paved parking areas and assembled at least 20 trailers over the past six months on property it owns east of Calumet Avenue and south of 129th Street to house engineering and supervisory personnel working on the refiner's planned $3 billion expansion project.
But the London-based oil giant failed to secure necessary city building permits, or present their plans to the Hammond Redevelopment Commission, which has jurisdiction over uses of the property since its designation as a redevelopment district in 1998.
"I'd have to say we're disappointed," said Commissioner Rosemary Wojdyla, before joining her colleagues in unanimously voting to table BP's request for approval of the office trailer complex on Tuesday night.
Refinery representatives pointed to human error as responsible for the confusion, noting that similar assemblies of trailers placed in East Chicago and Whiting did not require special permits or permissions.
"This was an oversight," said Nicholas Chulos, an attorney for BP with the law firm Krieg DeVault. "The trailer project should have been presented to you before any development occurred."
Redevelopment Commissioner Daniel Spitale, who moved to table the matter shortly after Monday night's presentation by refinery spokespersons, said he was "just not comfortable" with a lack of information regarding whether or not the project was in compliance with the North Hammond Redevelopment Area plan.
Established in 1998 and amended in 2002, the plan aimed for the transformation of the area from heavy industry to business and light-industrial development, with the goal of complementing adjacent recreational uses such as the Lost Marsh Golf Course.
Though considered "temporary," the trailers would remain at the site through completion of BP's expansion for the processing of new petroleum sources from Canada, said Thomas Keilman, the refinery's director of public affairs, a project that is estimated to take four years.
The next scheduled meeting of the Hammond Redevelopment Commission is Aug. 7.
